December 8th, 2010

Louisiana dropped two spots to 49th in a report that ranks the health of all 50 states. According to The United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Ranking Report, Louisiana’s ranking remains low due to a number of factors including high prevalence of obesity (coming in at 49th in the nation) and smoking (coming in at 41st). While the number of Louisiana smokers has dropped from 29.1% in 1990 to 22% in 2010, the number of obese people in the state doubled from 16.6% to 33.9% in the same period. Positive findings for the state include high immunization coverage and ready access to prenatal care. To learn more about how individuals, political leaders, health professionals and policy analysts can help inform community health improvement action plans, www.americashealthrankings.org features excellent health research tools and related databases. To see a snapshot of Louisiana’s health rankings that can help inform an action plan to improve the health of Louisiana communities, click here.